MSHOME is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The network path was not found.

This is the error message I get when I try to see any computers, printers, or storage devices connected to my home network. Sometimes, I can see other computers that are attached, but I cannot access them and receive a similar error message. Other times, I cannot even see any of my network. I have not lost connectivity to the internet, only to my local systems.

There are several computers attached to my network, all are running Windows XP SP2. One of my laptops can see all and touch all, but the rest cannot. Iíll focus on the computer that I am currently on. It is an AMD 3000+ that is wired to a Linksys wireless N router that is connected to a cable modem. The SP2 firewall is off and I am running Zone Labs Zonealarm. My home network IP range is setup in the ďTrustedĒ zone. I can ping the computers and devices attached, and can send print jobs to my network (wired) printer, but I canít even view my home network, reference the error message above. And, as I indicated earlier, I donít even receive the same error message day after day. All of my computers used to communicate with each other very well. I cannot say for sure when this trouble started. I donít often try to attach to my other machines, but I sure canít do it now.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might have happened and how to rectify it? I would sure appreciate the help!

There continues to be a lot of misinformation about needing NetBEUI or to changing the NetBIOS setting. You can ignore both. Installing NetBEUI to solve a networking problem will just mask a some underlying and potentially important misconfiguration with TCP/IP. The default NetBIOS setting usually works. If browsing is a problem, you might set it to Enabled. But do not Disable it.

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If you are always getting Access Denied errors when trying to connect to a XP computer,
and you know you have the correct user names and passwords on the computer,
the solution may be a simple registry edit.

Bob,
Thanks for the feedback. I disabled Zone Alarm, (then uninstalled it) and my problems seem to have been solved. Oddly enough, I've had ZA installed for 5+ years with regular updates and all was working well until a short while ago when the system decided to no longer recognize the home network. The only software that has really been updated recently has been Windows... Don't understand it, just have to be able to fix it!!

Terry,
I'd also like to thank you. As you can see from the post to Bob, the firewall was the problem. I don't know how it would start acting up, once I got it running the way I wanted it to, I leave it alone. Anyway, thanks for the help.

Bob,
Thanks for the feedback. I disabled Zone Alarm, (then uninstalled it) and my problems seem to have been solved. Oddly enough, I've had ZA installed for 5+ years with regular updates and all was working well until a short while ago when the system decided to no longer recognize the home network. The only software that has really been updated recently has been Windows... Don't understand it, just have to be able to fix it!!

Thanks again,
Mike

That #6

6. For troubleshooting purposes, turn off XP's and completely uninstall any other firewall software. You can always add more complexity after you get it working.

I don't use Zone Alarm but from reading other threads I've developed the theory that after some of ZA's updates its configuration somehow changes. If you install it and again configure it to allow your LAN subnet you will probably be OK.

Of course, both your router's and XP's firewall will protect you from incoming attacks, and encryption of your wireless keeps intruders off that, so what ZA adds is protection from outgoing attacks (e.g., spyware calling home). Is your risk sufficient to warrant the extra hassle of ZA?

P.S.--since I only use XP's firewall, when I take my laptop to a public hotspot I set it to "On-No Exceptions."

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